Not Mine Not Mine. Traditionally, the full moon day or the first day of every month is considered the day of keeping the precepts, or called "temple day", Buddhists go to the temple to listen to sermons and practice. That is a Buddhist custom since ancient times. Our predecessors divided a month into 26 days of living at home and 4 days of going to the temple to study. Life at home takes up more time than time spent at the temple. Having the opportunity to study Buddhism is precious. Buddha once said: "Days and nights just pass by indifferently, how do we use the time?". Buddha was afraid that people would forget that, so Buddha reminded us of the passing days. And it's not just the days that pass—our lives are passing, too. We are definitely getting older, we are definitely running out of time, and one day we will come to an end. Therefore, Buddha asked the question: "Days and nights just pass by indifferently, what do we do to use the time?". Buddha constantly and repeatedly reminded us to consider in the present moment: Where do we come from? Why are we here? Who brought us into this life and guided us? Do we know how many years we will live? When we leave this life, where will we go? When we meditate on the passing of day and night, we will always meditate on those questions. The more we meditate on these questions, the more we realize that human life is short. From childhood we become adults, and then suddenly one day we find ourselves old. Transformation happens every day. If we look at this, we will pay serious attention to our lives and actions. For that reason, our ancestors created the custom of spending four days in a month as “temple days”. 26 days at home to live life with family, take care of making a living, and 4 days to go to the temple to study. (The ancestors relied on the full moon and first days of the Buddhist calendar to create opportunities for Buddhists to keep the precepts and practice Buddhism. But that does not mean it is mandatory, anyone who has their mind directed towards Buddhism can do so. do). Those days Buddhists could go to temples to listen to dharma teachings and hear different things. When we're at home, all we hear is: 'This is me. That's mine'. All we care about is 'us' and 'mine'. We never hear anyone say "Nothing is mine". But when we go to the temple, we will hear the monks say, “This is not me. Nothing is mine." At first hearing, we may be surprised: "Hey, what's going on?" Why do teachers say that? Obviously what we have is ours. I have worked hard for many years to accumulate so much money. Are the teachers wrong or lying? Why 'I'm not me. Everything is not mine'?”. At first, people didn't know what to believe. In everyone's mind, it is clear, "I am clearly 'me'. The house, the children, the money... are mine." But every time we go to the temple, we hear the monks say the same thing:“This is not me. That's not mine. Nothing is mine." Conflict. The world and Buddha Dharma are contradictory. The world does not give up its point of view. In the world of attachment, there is definitely a 'me', everything that is mine is 'mine'. But the monks kept saying in their minds, “This is not me. Nothing is mine." But the truth has been known for a long time. Long rain soaks the ground. After listening to the advice of the monks many times and looking at our own experiences, we can begin to have the understanding (wisdom) to look at the way things are, and we can change the way of thinking. Then we can see that the monks were right. Many people only go to the temple once in a while to worship something, or only hear the monk's words a few times, so when they return home they still think in the same old way they have thought for many lifetimes. Still attached to 'me' and 'mine', considering 'me' and everything 'mine' as the reason for living, the reason for fighting in life. It takes time for us to learn, listen and experience to understand the truth. Those who think deeply and practice meditation can begin to see that truth clearly. Listening to the Dharma has such value. Every time we hear a teaching, we begin to investigate and consider sincerely and patiently to see whether that teaching is true or false, right or wrong. Learning to understand the imperfections and unsatisfactoriness of the world, becoming aware of our own aging, we begin to take it to heart. At first, most people don't want to listen, but after a few times they listen and look at their lives, they begin to care. Only then will they understand that Buddha's teachings are correct. What is called 'we' and 'us' is just a convention. What is called 'I', 'I am', 'Mr. A'... is just a convention. Look at the things in the house. Is anything broken or missing? Have things changed in the house? That example is a way to help us see. If all the things in the house are 'mine', why do we say they must always be new? Do they listen, or do they gradually get old? Ignore the possessions, now take my body and see. Why does my body get sick? Can anyone escape the disease? If the body is ours, why do we want it not to get sick but it still gets sick? The body belongs to me and I am its owner, so why don't I listen to what I say, and it keeps getting sick and getting old? Now I know that the body is not mine, the body is actually just earth, water, air, and heat. But when we were born into this body, we thought the body was ours, so we kept suffering because of this body, suffering because of its impermanent changes. But no matter how stubborn we are, it is still wrong, just an illusion and not true to reality. No matter how hard we try to create conditions, eat, care for, and preserve it, the body still gets old, gets sick, and then dies. Finally, the body leaves us. We cannot negotiate or decide when we will die. We cannot say: "Hey my body, wait for my children and grandchildren to grow up,Only when we have enough money and business will we be able to die." We can not. When it's time to die, you have to die. When there are no longer enough life-sustaining elements in the body, it will stop living and die. Even if we feel sad or resentful, we can't do anything. Death never asks my opinion. When it dies, it dies. If we see this, we will truly enter the Dharma. Just like seeing a poisonous snake, and knowing it has dangerous venom, we avoid it. If we don't see it, if we are carefree or stubborn in our way of thinking, we can step on it and be bitten by it. If we see a poisonous snake. Know its venom. When it comes close, we recognize it and stay away from it. If we know how to do that, even if the snake is poisonous, we will not be affected. We stay away from it and thereby protect ourselves. The venom is still in the snake, but it cannot touch me. Similarly, when we recognize something as harmful, we stay away from it. Body and mind are like poisonous snakes. Have you ever noticed this? When our body is healthy and comfortable, we sing: "My life is in good hands." When the body is sick or weak, we cry: "Dear man, why have I encountered 'dumbbells', or what karma have I encountered?" That's a poisonous snake. So is Tam. If everything goes well, we feel happy and life is good. When something bad happens, we lose sleep and eat because of it, lying on the bed with tears in our eyes, feeling miserable. That's a poisonous snake. The snake is biting us, but we are not aware of it. Buddha wants us to learn and understand the Dharma to understand our body and mind. Every morning in the temple there is an hour of chanting. We chant: “The body is impermanent. Feeling of impermanence. Perception of impermanence. Impermanent thoughts. Consciousness is impermanent.”. (Form, feelings, thoughts, actions, and consciousness are all impermanent). Then continue chanting: "The physical body is not mine. Feelings, thoughts, actions, and consciousness are all the same." Throughout body and mind, there is nothing but impermanence. There is no such thing as an 'I' or 'mine'. Everything only exists and then disappears, arises and disappears, arises and disappears. That is the way of all things, at all times and in all places. Some people hear: "Nothing is mine", then they have the thought of throwing away all their wealth and possessions. Actually, it doesn't have to be that way. When people don't understand it, they often argue about what it means and how to apply it. It is necessary to think and consider carefully. “This is not me” does not mean that one should commit suicide or throw everything away. That sentence just means that we have to give up our attachment (grasping) to 'me', we have to let go of our attachment to 'me'. (Don't be attached to the body. Don't be attached to the mind. Don't be attached to 'I' and 'mine' which are not real). There are two truths, conventional truth and absolute truth—the presupposition and the liberation. Regarding conventions, there are Mr. A, Mr. B, Ms. C, Ms. N... We use these conventions as assumptions (nouns, adjectives, names...) to communicate with each other.(For example, each ethnic group even has a conventional language for them to communicate with each other for many generations). Buddha does not advise us not to use such language and conventions. Buddha only advised us to remember that those things are just conventions and we should not be attached or bound to those conventions, and should not consider conventional truths as absolute truths. Things that are conventional (are created, are conditioned) are just empty. When it comes to convention, there is that thing, but in reality there is no such thing. If we look on the outside, everything appears to be real. But if we investigate deeply into their nature, they are nothing. At most, it's just the body, just the mind, just happiness, just suffering. That's all. Finally, if we don't understand them then they are poisonous, just like a poisonous snake can bite us, if we don't understand it and we step on it and... it certainly bites us. If the mind is not aware (awakened) of its desires and defilements, we suffer. Desire and defilement can lead us into many places of confusion and suffering. When the body changes in its natural way, we feel sad, suffer, and cry because of it. That's a poisonous snake. Mind and body are poisonous snakes. (They keep biting us anytime, anywhere until we understand what their nature is). All the hardship and suffering we experience are just products of our mind. Many people are very timid. Just because they let their minds run wild, thinking about all kinds of things excessively. When they were in the dark, they panicked, 'saw' a ghost or something, then they ran in panic, screaming to escape death. It's just their thinking. The thought frightened them. Demons are also caused by their unruly thinking. Stupid minds often create such thoughts. The mind is not 'me', not 'mine', not 'something' certain, not certain at all—but the mind can be trained, can be cultivated. If a person is strong, has a strong mind, he will think differently, will increase his strength and chase away such fearful thoughts. So each month we have 26 days to live at home, and 4 "days to go to the temple" to learn and understand the Dharma and practice. If we cannot go to the temple during those 4 days for some reason, we just need to understand the "meaning" of "going to the temple" and practice at home. (That is called “going to temple in the mind”). At home, we also do not forget to keep the precepts during those "go to temple" days. We already have too many (26) days to take care of family matters and make a living, so we should spend some (4) "days going to the temple" to live a good life, keep the precepts, learn about Buddhism and cultivate. heart. (But often Buddhists stay in a cycle like this): After learning a little more about the teachings and cultivating more good dispositions, they return to family life and work. Then their minds and hearts are disturbed,Again, they are caught up in all the things of this worldly life... Then on the "temple days" of the following month, they go to the temple again to keep the precepts and retrain their minds... Then they continue to return to life in family... But it's better than nothing... after going back and forth so many times, they can learn how to improve their way of living (right action), way of thinking (right view), and about making a living (right livelihood). in a more wholesome way... to stay away from common suffering and bad karma. Then gradually they will understand impermanence in all life. They see that if we keep grasping or clinging to things that are impermanent and uncertain, we will only bring hardship and dissatisfaction to ourselves. (Nothing is truly mine. Everything is impermanent and selfless). That's it, the time was divided and taught by the wise men of the past like that, setting aside 4 days in a month for spiritual practice. It is a time for us to meditate, listen to the Buddha's teachings, and think and meditate on them. If thirty days were all spent on family work and making a worldly living, it would certainly create more difficulties in each of our lives. Mortal life is full of suffering and dissatisfaction. 26 days is more than enough.END=NAM MO SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3 TIMES ).GOLDEN ZEN BUDDHIST MONASTERY= VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.22/6/2024.VIETNAMESE TRANSLATE ENGLISH BY=THICH CHAN TANH.